Container lining



May 28, 1963 A. G. MAKowsKl CONTAINER LINING Filed D60. 5, 1960 United States Patent O 3,691,066 CONTAINER LiNlNG Alexander George Makowski, Fayville, Mfass., assigner to American Can Company, New York, NX., a corporation of New ersey Fiied Dec. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 73,578 2 Claims. (Cl. 1359) This invention relates to the manufacture of containers and particularly to the provision of a lining therein.

One well-known method `of lining containers requires the spraying of an internal coating followed by drying the coating to form an adherent lining layer. The manufacturing processes involved, however, have many drawbacks in that solvent vapors have to be contended with and, in some instances recovered if excessively costly, toxic or explosive. Moreover the operation of spray equipment is often erratic with large periods of down Atime for cleaning and repair. All-in-all lining by spray coating has proved to be rather costly and in some cases, where complete continuity and imperviousness of the lining are -impontant, extremely difficult to perform with adequate reliability.

In order to avoid the manufacturing complications and possible lining imperfections implicit in coating procedures, it has been proposed to provide liners for containers by inserting a paiison or preform of plastic material into the container, and lthen inflating the parison -until it expands into intimate contact with the container wall. So far as I am aware, lthis approach has never proved to be practical, especially for containers with reduced necks or access openings. If the lliner parison is inserted in its stiif unheated condition, the heat required to soften it for ination may be deleterious to the container itself. This is especially the case if the container is of thermoplastic material such Ias polyethylene. In any event the time required to heat the pariscn within the container, blow it, rand then cool it -to set condition inhibits production to a point that it would not be normally commercial.

I am also aware that -attempts have been made to line containers using parisons while still in heat softened condition and :then inflated as illustrated by U.S. Patent 2,898,972. However, the parison must Abe extended somewhat to provide a closed or pinched off end for blowing, and then inserted into the restricted neck of the container. In practice the insertion of a limp slightly tacky semi-molten plastic parison into the res-tricted neck of a container has not proved workable.

It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide a process wherein a semi-molten plastic parison can, with a high degree of reliability land regularity, and with acceptable rapidity, be placed inside of a `container and through the neck thereof and inflated to form a liner.

A feature of the present invention is the achievement of the foregoing object by the steps of injection molding a parison in a parison mold about a support member or core pin, removing the core pin with the parison thereon Ifrom the parison mold, using the core pin as a tool to insert the semi-molten parison into the container neck, and then introducing inflating fluid through the core pin to inate the parison into contact with the container.

Additional objects, features and advantages will appear hereinafter as the description proceeds.

In the drawing:

PIG. l is :longitudinal section of a parison mold illustrating the yformation of a parison therein.

FIG. 2 is an elevation, partly in section showing the insertion of the parison within a container.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section to a larger scale illustrating the inflation of the parison inside of the container "lee and also within an optional supporting form which may be used to support the container yduring the inflation of the parison.

FIG. 4 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section illustrating the completed container with lining in place.

Referring to the drawing, FIG. l illustrates the step of injection molding a parison P, and shows a parison mold 11 which m-ay -be either a one piece mold or a split mold consisting of separable halves depending upon the parison shape desired. There is disposed within the mold 11 Ia hollow support member or core pin 13 connected to a suitable head 15 for closing the parison mold during injection. The core pin tip has an opening which is normally `closed by a valve 17 actuable by a rod 19 Afor a purpose which will presently appear.

With the ycore pin 13 in place in the mold 11 with the head 15 closing the open end thereof, heat softened plastic material is injected into the mold through ya sprue passage 21 therein by an injection nozzle 23 to till the mold space and form the parison P. The mold is `kept cool, normally by passing 'a coolant through chambers 25 and 27 thereof so that -the parison soon reaches a temperature low enough to prevent flow of the material but still high enough to be readily inflated, at which point the core pin 13 together with head 15, and the parison P can be withdrawn from the mold 11 as an assembly A, illustrated in FIG. 2.

The assembly A is then inserted into the neck 29 of a container C as shown in FIG. 2. The container C may be of any material which requires a lining, but in the form shown is indicated as being of plastic. By making the container of one plastic material `and the lining of another it is possible to provide a container having decreased permeability to a variety `of products, and hence one of much more extensive utility. By having the core pin 13 as a stiifener for the parison P, the latter is held straight and true and is readily inserted in the neck 29 without -diiculty As the assembly A is bottomed in the container C, the head 15 seats against the upper surface of the neck 29. The rod 19 is then yactuated to open valve `17 and duid under pressure is admitted into the parison P until it is inated into intimate contact with the container C, taking the form shown at P in FIG. 3. The pressure is maintained until the liner P' has coo-led sufliciently to set and remain `in its inated condition.

Preferably the head 15 has a central conical surface 31 which not only its a matching surface on the parison rnold 11 during parison injection, but also helps to center the assembly A in the container C during placement land ination. In order to permit proper inllation of the parison it is necessary to provide Ian escape route for the air between the parison and the container. 'Ihis has previously been done in some instances by providing leakage paths through the seams of a sheet metal outer container, or )by providing minute perforations in the louter container. I prefer, however, -to preserve the integrity of the outer container, especially when made of plastic, and to this end the head 15 is provided with vent grooves 33 which connect the space between the parison and the container with the atmosphere unt-il the parison P is fully inated.

If the container C is flexible or for other reasons requires support against the `iniiation pressure, it may be enclosed in a lsupporting housing 3S preferably made up of separable sections as indicated in FIG. 3. 'Ihe housing 35 may also be used as a cooling ragency and coolant may be passed through the chambers 37 and 39 therein to ass-ist lthe setting of the parison when inated. The cooling action of the housing 35 on the inated parison sperano P may, however, be impaired somewhat if -the container C is ofvplastic or other heat insulating material, and in that case I prefer to cool the inila-ted parison by refrigerating the container C before the parison is inserte-d, or by inating the parison with Sa refrigerated iiuid, or both.

After the `inflated parison has set, the core pin 13 `and head 15 are removed. Either removed with them by breaking away from the inflated parison P', or trimmed therefrom in a separate operation, are the remaining unused part-s of the pari-son, ifany. r[his results in a lined container C as shown in `finished -form in FIG. 4.

While an arrangement has been shown in which the parison has 3a' slight clearance for insertion in the conrainer neck and also for venting access to the space between the parison and container, it will be understood that the present invention makes it possible to arr-ange 'for a relatively snug tit between the parison neck portion and the container neck if desired, 'assuming that other lVenting arrangements are made, and that in spite of such snug lit, the core pin 13 makes it possible to insert the semi-molten parison P swiftly and accurately into the container lfor expeditious commercial manufacture.

It Iis thought that the invention and many of its attendant fadwantages will `be understood from the foregoing ydescription and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in :the steps of the method described and their order yof accomplishment without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention or sacrificing all of lits material advantages, the method hereinb'efore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A method `of internally -lining a preformed centainer, which includes the steps of introducing Va parison forming assembly, comprised of an axially passaged core pin having valve means at one end thereof and a head section at 'the opposite end formed with an'armular Piange on the underside thereof surrounding said core pin, into yan injection mold cavity provided with an annular seating surface receiving said yanxziular flange whereby said core pin is accurately centered with respect to said mold cavity, moldinga thermoplastic parison about said core pin while said valve means is closed and said pin vis so centered, controlling the `temperature of said parison to maintain the same in semi-molten condition, introducing said `core pin and semi-molten parison thereon through the neck of a container until 'the closed valve means is in contact and steadying relation with respect to the bottom Wall of said container and said annular flange on said head section is centered inV coaxi-ally spaced relation relative to the container neck to provide :a fluid vent therewith, opening said `valve means, introducing pressurized huid through said head section and into said opposite end of said core pin axially therethrough in one direction and Ioutwardly through said Valve means and in an opposite axial direction between said core pin and parison to progressively inflate said parison from said one end to the opposite end thereof while porting said fluid through said vent until the entire interior of the container is lined with parison material, .terminating lthe ow of -inating iluid, and withdrawing said head section annular flan-ge from Iand said core pin-through said container neck.

2. A method of internally lining'containers as deiined in claim 1, in which said preformed container is housed in and supponted by mold structure, and -in which after the parison is inflated -and before the core pin is withdrawn, the container is positively cooled by circulating a coolant through said mold structure toy `facilitate setting of said inflated parison.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,290,129 Moreland et al. July 14, 1942 2,298,716 Moreland et al. Oct. 13, 1942 2,724,672 Rubin NOV. 22, 1955 2,872,766 Meissner Feb. 10, 19519 2,898,972 Strong Aug. 11, 1959 2,944,298 Bernhardt et al. July y12, 1960 2,959,812 Allen NOV. 15, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 453,123 Great Britain Sept. l, 1936 

1. A METHOD OF INTERALLY LINING A PREFORMED CONTAINER, WHICH INCLUDES THE STEPS OF INTRODUCING A PARISON FORMING ASSEMBLY, COMPRISED OF AN AXIALLY PASSAGED CORE PIN HAVING VALVE MEANS AT ONE END THEREOF AND A HEAD SECTION AT THE OPPOSITE END FORMED WITH AN ANNULAR FLANGE ON THE UNDERSIDE THEREOF SURROUNDING SAID CORE PIN, INTO AN INJECTION MOLD CAVITY PROVIDED WITH AN ANNULAR SEATING SURFACE RECEIVING SAID ANNULAR FLANGE WHEREBY SAID CORE PIN IS ACCURATELY CENTERED WITH RESPECT TO SAID MOLD CAVITY, MOLDING A THERMOPLASTIC PARISON ABOUT SAID CORE MAINTAIN THE SAME IN SEMI-MOLTEN CONDITION, INTRODUCING PIN WHILE SAID VALVE MEANS IS CLOSED AND SAID PIN IS SO MAINTAIN THE SAME IN SEMI-MOLTEN CONDITION, INTRODUCING SAID CORE PIN AND SEMI-MOLTEN PARISON THEREON THROUGH THE NECK OF A CONTAINER UNTIL THE CLOSED VALVE MEANS IS IN CONTACT AND STEADYING RELATION WITH RESPECT TO THE BOTTOM WALL OF SAID CONTAINER AND SAID ANNULAR FLANGE ON SAID HEAD SECTION IS CENTERED IN COAXIALLY SPACED RELATION RELATIVE TO THE CONTAINER NECK TO PROVIDE A FLUID VENT THEREWITH, OPENING SAID VALVE MEANS, INTRODUCING PRESSURIZED FLUID THROUGH SAID HEAD SECTION AND INTO SAID OPPOSITE END OF SAID CORE PIN AXIALLY THERETHROUGH IN ONE DIRECTION AND OUTWARDLY THROUGH SAID VALVE MEANS AND IN AN OPPOSITE AXIAL DIRECTION BETWEEN SAID CORE PIN AND PARISON TO PROGRESSIVELY INFLATE SAID PARISON FROM SAID ONE END TO THE OPPOSITE END THEREOF WHILE PORTING SAID FLUID THROUGH SAID VENT UNTTIL THE ENTIRE INTERIOR OF THE CONTAINER IS LINED WITH PARISON MATERIAL, TERMINATING THE FLOW OF INFLATING FLUID, AND WITHDRAWING SAID HEAD SECTION ANNULAR FLANGE FROM AND SAID CORE PIN THROUGH SAID CONTAINER NECK. 